Claim: Namibian president orders deportation of 500 Americans over visa reciprocity policy
Source: Social media (X and Facebook)
Verdict: False
Researched by Alfa Shaban
The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), through its social media platforms X and Facebook, published a flyer that claimed that over 500 Americans were to be deported from Namibia.
The flyer was shared on social media platforms on April 15, 2025, with a quote attributed to Namibia’s President, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. “If Africans need visas to enter the USA, then Americans must also need visas to enter Namibia,” she is quoted to have said.
On X, the post got 105 reposts, 13 quotes, 622 likes, 10 bookmarks and 19.7K views while on Facebook, it gathered 6.2K reactions, 769 comments and 537 shares.
Fig 1 & 2 – Flyers as shared on GBC’s official social media pages
This report will fact-check the following:
- Whether Namibia has ordered the deportation of over 500 Americans
- The veracity of the quote attributed to President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah
Fact-check
GhanaFact checks showed that beginning April 1, 2025, nationals of over 30 countries who previously enjoyed free entry into Namibia were required to apply for tourist visas before starting a trip.
Through a cabinet resolution in June 2024, the Namibian government revoked a visa-free regime for citizens of the affected countries citing the lack of reciprocity by their governments. The Namibian government through a circular in January 2025, listed the 33 countries whose nationals required visas in advance or on arrival in Namibia.
The United States of America was among the affected countries, and the US Embassy in Namibia issued a statement on April 2, informing citizens to take note of the new visa rules.
To verify if any Americans had slated to be deported, GhanaFact contacted the US Embassy in Windhoek on April 15, 2025.
An official responded via email stating: “Thanks for inquiring. This is fake news as reported by the Namibian presidency.” The response was accompanied by a link to the presidency’s disclaimer on similar flyers.
Fig 3 – Screenshot of an email reply from a US Embassy staff to GhanaFact
A detailed disclaimer was published by the presidency on April 16, 2025.
It states in parts: “The Presidency wishes to make it categorically clear that no such order of deportation or statement has been issued by the President and no mass deportation of American nationals is underway.
“All immigration related offences in Namibia are dealt with in accordance with accordance of the laws of the Republic of Namibia.”
On the quotes attributed to the president, the presidency described them as fabricated and intended to misinform and disinform.
“These posts feature fabricated quotes and images containing misinformation and disinformation intended to tarnish the image of the President, the Namibian Government and to create potential diplomatic embarrassment,” the April 16 statement highlighted.
Verdict
Therefore, the claims are False, and the quote attributed to the President is fake.
